PME just had another truly "feel-good" experience last Friday, March 30th, nineteen of us took the morning off work to present our "Story of Freedom" Spirituals concert to another local school, the Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley. We sang to 225 students in the second through fifth grades plus a number of faculty and staff, and one Mid-Kindergarten class, since one of them, 4 year old Camille, is the daughter of PME member Christine Grisot d'Allancé, and she wanted to see her mom sing. Our son Alex Stenzel (2nd grade) was really looking forward to this concert too, as he is already a great fan of this music from listening to our CD over and over again.
As usual, Music Director Lynne gave wonderful, short, interesting educational intros to each of the songs, occasionally asking questions of the children, who always responded enthusiatically. One of the best reactions (and a great serendipity!) was when she asked if anyone was familar with the Underground Railroad. A number
of students all over raised hands, but the entire back section of the audience almost whooped and raised hands en masse--we learned afterwards that they had just finished an entire multi-week course of study about the Civil War, slavery, the Underground Railroad! Was our timing perfect, or what? And the teacher of that 3rd grade class was Mary Havemann, who taught both of Kathie Longinotti's children way back in the early days of EB; she and Kathie had a nice homecoming, not having seen each other for awhile. Another great reaction was when Lynne announced the last song we would do, "Battle of Jericho." This was already an obvious favorite with a number of kids in the audience, as more cheers accompanied raised fists going "Yes!" (Alex and his buddy Dao were among the loudest cheering!)
The PME & EB connections go back to the beginning of time: PME's founder and Artistic Director Dick Grant along with his wife Gretchen were among the five founding families of EB in 1977, their kids Phyllis and Ben were some of the very first-ever EB students, Mindy & Jeremy Longinotti joining them soon after. Gretchen of course has sung with PME since the beginning (1980), & Ben for many years too [he is on leave right now, teaching music in the south bay--hey Ben, maybe we should bring the show down to you now!] And Phyllis Grant & Matthew Ross's little daughter Isabel Ross will be joining EB's Pre-Kindergarten in fall of 2007, along with Bryan & Kymie Matheson's son Kames. Maybe some day they will sing in PME too, along with Don Kelly & Susan Getman's Devon (EB 8th grade) and Jordan (2006 alumnus). Dick and Gretchen, you started some great organizations.....!
One thing for sure is, it's always a delight to sing and perform for school children--they opened their faces, hearts and minds to the stories behind the songs that Lynne told them: that "Amazing Grace" was written by a former slave ship owner who renounced his connection to the slave trade--and that "Steal Away" was the secret signal via song that one would be escaping that night on the Underground Railroad. Later that day when I picked Alex up after school, several adults and kids too, came up to me and said how much they really really liked the concert. I know it was our pleasure too, we had all gotten a real high again, from the experience of reaching so many children at once, with these powerfully moving songs.
Amelie Mel de Fontenay & John Stenzel
